


How to lose your Terran in a few easy steps

by naivesilver



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: "I'm not a dad" said Yondu while being a dad, Accidental Cuddling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Kid Peter Quill, Kraglin is there only to glare at Yondu, Mild Language, Parent Yondu Udonta, probably, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 13:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13124955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naivesilver/pseuds/naivesilver
Summary: Yondu leaves Peter on a planet by accident.Any worry that he feels while running back to get him is also an accident.





	How to lose your Terran in a few easy steps

"So let me get this straight" Kraglin started, approaching the pilot seat.  
Yondu gritted his teeth. He would not. He would _not_ let him get this straight, because if he did, then he’d have to admit that Kraglin was right, that he’d really fucked up, and he couldn’t admit that even to himself at that point.  
Kraglin, of course, ignoring completely his captain’s thoughts and his sullen silence, went on with his blabbering. "You forgot Peter on that planet. Peter. The kid who makes his presence known every fucking second with his talking."  
There were times in which Yondu wondered if punching his first mate would make him feel better. This was one of those times, even if said first mate was telling the truth. How did one leave Peter Quill behind?  
He knew perfectly well how. He had done it, hadn’t he? Let Quill off the ship so that he would stop bothering them with how _boring_ staying on board was, ordered him to wait for him in a corner of the marketplace and then walked back to the Eclector after he’d finished trading their stuff without collecting the kid first. He’d even thought about Quill, for fuck’s sake, when he’d exchanged a few of the newly gained units for some Terran batteries that could fit into the boy’s music thing.  
It had been only when he’d gotten the batteries out of his pocket on the ship’s bridge that he’d realized that there was no Peter to throw them at, and at that point the planet’s port had been far behind them.  
How to lose your Terran in a few easy steps. Yondu got to write a fuckin’ book after this mess was over.  
Right now, though, Kraglin was still waiting for an answer, so the Centaurian growled back at him: "Kid’s small. Ain’t that hard to ignore him".  
He didn’t have to look behind his shoulder to know that Kraglin was staring at him, eyebrows raised and face doubtful. Right. If Yondu’d been able to ignore the boy, he wouldn’t have dumped the command of the Eclector on Horuz before getting Kraglin and running back on an M-ship to pick Quill up. But who could blame him? The kid was pretty useful, what with his small frame and thieving skills, and leaving him behind would only mean gifting him to Ego and whoever could get Peter for him.  
Yondu had no intention on letting Ego win. Not now. Not after all he’d done to avoid it.  
Kraglin was _still_ staring at him. "Stop standing there like a damn Sovereign and tell me if the coordinates are right" Yondu shouted, just to snap him out of that disapproving face.  
Who was he to judge his behavior? The man was more worried than him, to be sure. Quill wasn’t making them all soft, he was straight up melting ‘em.  
"Aye, captain" his first mate said, turning around and leaving him to brood by himself. All these problems for a single small Terran.  
How had they ended up like this?

 

With a great amount of idiocy, that was how. The day had started perfectly well, with the crew docking on that small planet for fuel while Yondu had gone to talk to a trader who had given him an exaggerate amount of units for the stones they had collected on their last job.  
His original plan had been to go alone, but he had allowed Peter to get off the Eclector and walk with him to the marketplace. A true show of generosity, one he could wave in the kid’s face the next time he decided to complain about the unfairness of life, and a favor to the other Ravagers: it had been ages since Yondu had let him go planetside, and the whole galaxy knew how cranky the boy could get when forced in limited spaces for too long.  
If Yondu had also let him follow his captain to the job, no problem would have presented; instead he had decided not to trust the trader (and Quill) that much and to tell the boy to sit in a corner and wait for him, an hour tops, and _don’t start a riot or somethin’ while I ain’t there_. Quill had huffed, but he hadn’t complained and he had settled on the ground, watching the bizarre creatures walking around with curious eyes. That had marked the last time Yondu had seen him.  
And now he was starting to feel like he would never see him again.  
Which was, of course, overtly sappy and ridiculous. The kid could survive almost anything that came his way, biting and running and hiding: a few hours out and about wouldn’t kill him. By now he had probably enchanted some old lady with his big green eyes and got a warm meal in her house, flipping an imaginary finger at the Ravagers he’d left behind.  
Though nice grannies weren’t the only people that one could meet, even on a backwater and calm planet like that. Slave traders came first to Yondu’s mind, when he let it wander too much, but simple hungry drunkards weren’t any less probable. Terrans weren’t that common around there, whether someone wanted them as workers or food or entertainment.  
And there was always Ego, who pulled his head out his ass only when he needed to look for his children, and whoever could bring said children to his planet.  
It was all those people who filled Yondu’s brain while he landed at the port they’d left earlier that day, not Peter, and therefore he didn’t run across the city like an idiotic worried parent. Of course. His were the strides of a man who wanted to retrieve his cargo before its even more idiotic Celestial father could get to it first.  
Therefore, the relief that flooded his chest when he saw the small, Peter-shaped figure in the same corner he’d left the kid at had a completely reasonable explanation.  
Yondu’s pace got faster while he got closer, Kraglin hot on his heels, and crouched down just before the boy, looking him over critically. Any Ravager with half a brain (or, hell, even a common street rat) would have hid in some shadowed spot near the meeting point after all those hours spent waiting, since your captain being this late could only mean trouble like arrest or death (or forgetfulness, if your captain was Yondu Udonta), but it seemed that Peter hadn’t moved since the Centaurian had left him. If anything, the kid had curled protectively around himself, his head propped up by the wall behind him, and had fallen asleep somewhere along the line.  
"He alive?" Kraglin asked, worry dripping from every word. Gods, had there been anyone else around to hear him they’d have laughed at him getting so mushy.  
Thankfully for him, he was with Yondu, who wasn’t so sure to be able to uphold his own reputation as an heartless pirate at the moment. "Course he is" he muttered. They were in the middle of the night-cycle, and the nearest street light was too far away to be of any help, but even half-covered by darkness the kid didn’t look hurt. He was just the perfect image of a kicked puppy left by its owner, a sight that would have melted lesser hearts than theirs.  
Yondu broke the spell, grabbing the boy’s arm and shaking him. "Hey! Quill! Wake up!"  
Peter jolted awake, instinct kicking in as he scrambled away from the Centaurian’s touch. Then he blinked, his gaze focusing on the figures in front of him. "…Yondu?"  
"The one and only" the man growled. Now that he could see Quill alive and whole and responsive, he could afford to be angry, mostly at how ridiculous the situation was. Besides, kid needed to see how stupid it had been to make them run back to get him. Even if it had been Yondu’s fault, too. Mostly. Almost completely.  
Said kid didn’t seem fazed by his apparent anger, though. No, he just blinked once or twice and then positively _launched_ himself at him, tears forming in his eyes.  
Yondu gaped at him, taken aback. That was new. Quill had stopped crying in front of anyone two or three days after his kidnapping, figuring it wouldn’t help him, and even he wasn’t that stupid to break the physical boundaries of a Ravager, an action that could easily cost you an arm or a life. And yet, there he was, wrapping his arms around Yondu’s neck as if he was the only solid thing in the whole universe. "The hell, boy?" He said, surprise covering any scorn he had hoped to put in his voice.  
"I thought you’d left me here" Peter sobbed in his ear. It was an annoying sound, but completely genuine. The boy wasn’t faking it, that much he could tell; he had been definitely frightened by the experience. "Like, f-forever".  
Yondu scoffed. How long had it been, to cause such a scene? Only what, five hours? Nothing worth of consideration. Although maybe, counting that they had travelled back and forth with the ships, it might be closer to…ten hours. Or thirteen. Shit. Maybe the kid was the tiniest bit right. Not enough to bawl his eyes out, but still. "Yeah, and leave ya to be picked up by Nova Corps? So that ye could spit out all our secrets? Not gonna happen, boy".  
Quill giggled, but the tears didn’t stop. Yondu rolled his eyes. Figures if he wouldn’t leave a wet stain on his clothes. Though it was quite nice to have the kid in his arms, firm and solid, where no Terran-eater could get him.  
Firm and solid, but not warm. Peter’s skin was freezing cold where it pressed against his neck, and it was no thanks to the tears. What kinda chill did this planet have at night, that could penetrate the Ravager coat the boy was wearing?  
"Let’s get back to the ship" Yondu murmured, slowly raising to his feet with the boy in his arms. No use trying to force him to walk to the M-ship; unfed and tired as he was, he would only slow them down more than usual. It didn’t help that he was still crying on his captain’s shoulder. Better to carry him, all skin and bone as he was, than to risk losing him in the unfamiliar (though admittedly scarce) flow of people moving around them. And if Kraglin was looking at him with more than a glint of amusement in his eyes, well, Yondu could always punish him later. "But yer cleaning the toilets for two weeks after this, boy".  
It was an unfair punishment for something that was of Yondu’s own making, but Peter didn’t protest as he would have done on a normal day and just nodded against his shoulder. If it was a testament of how tired the kid was or if he was really convinced to have been the one to lose himself, it was a problem that would pose later.  
For now, they had to go home.

 

The trip back to the Eclector was uneventful. Peter eventually stopped crying and crawled down from Yondu’s lap, though small sobs kept wrecking his small body while he was sitting on the floor beside the copilot seat (Kraglin had taken the main seat without even asking, guessing correctly that holding a child would impair his captain’s ability to fly the M-ship), eating the emergency rations that were on board to substitute the meals he had missed. He also kept glancing up at Yondu, as if not fully believing that he would still be there. Stupid boy.  
Though that gave Yondu an excuse to do the same. He needed to check if Quill had definitely stopped crying, after all. He was an adult, he _knew_ that the kid wouldn’t disappear if he looked away.  
When they finally reached the Eclector, Peter rose up to get off the M-ship, but after a few steps it was clear that he wouldn’t go anywhere further than the door. He looked as he might fall asleep on his feet, to be honest, so Yondu picked him up again. It was not like anyone was around to see: the ship was on its night-cycle too, and the few crewmembers still awake were probably lazing around on the main bridge.  
But this presented another problem. If most of the crew was asleep in the dormitory, getting the boy in his bed without waking anyone would be impossible, and Yondu didn’t want to give the others a new cause to kill the boy in cold blood. On top of that, he could feel the boy shivering, and if he had caught some nasty bug while out in the cold, it would spread all over the crew in the space of just that one night.  
That left only one option.  
"Yer sleepin’ with me, boy" the Centaurian said, cursing inwardly his superior immune system. Couldn’t have been someone else the one capable of rejecting common health problems? Couldn’t it have been Kraglin, who he had just waved away to go make up some excuse for their trip to Horuz? It didn’t MATTER that having Quill sleeping close would mean being able to keep an eye on him, it would also mean losing half of his bed.  
But he couldn’t avoid it. "But if ya start cryin’ again or you kick me yer out the airlock".  
"Okay" Peter replied, sniffling. Fuck, how did that Terran get nasty even when after he’d stopped weeping? Dry sobs and snot just came out of nowhere with him.  
They both kept silent until they reached Yondu’s room, where he finally managed to disentangle himself from the boy, who had been gripping his coat with surprising strength. Then he undressed quickly, motioning Quill to do the same, and slipped into bed thinking it would be the end of that long, shitty day.  
The moment he felt Peter’s body pressing against his back he realized how wrong he was.  
Yondu cursed under his breath. He was a patient man, alright, but cuddling was a no-go. "Dammit, boy" he muttered. "Didya really think we’d left you there?"  
Quill’s nod was hesitant, but it was there. "Thought I’d done something wrong." He spoke haltingly, as if preparing for new tears. "Thought someone else would eat me if not the crew".  
_I thought the same thing, boy._ Yondu repressed the thought. That was not the time for getting soft, not when the lad was putting up that impressive show of feeling, all sad and scared and miserable. "If I kicked out anyone that fucks up I’d be alone on this ship" he replied, turning to face the kid. "‘Sides, yer not the most annoying here. Not every day, at least. When ya blast that music so loud that we all can hear it, then yer annoying".  
"Sorry." Quill was not sorry at all, but at least he’d stopped sniffling, and there was a light in his eyes that presumed the arrival of a better mood.  
"And yer still good at thieving, so till you can get into tunnels and shit like that, yer safe." Yondu poked at his belly with a long-nailed finger. "If ye get fat, though, yer on yer own".  
Peter squealed, barely containing his laughter. Good. At least he’d got that the man was joking, and he wouldn’t start crying again. "I don’t eat that much".  
"Yeah, ya do. Eat more than a grown man, who knows what ye’ll do when yer big." It was late, and the Centaurian had no intention of messing with the kid all night long. He assumed a serious tone of voice, hoping it would get the point across "And I’m not kickin’ ye out without a warning. No more that I’d do it for the other. Yer becoming a Ravager, ya get a Ravager treatment".  
There were a few moments of silence, during which Yondu thought that Quill had fallen asleep, but then the boy looked up, surprised and hopeful. "Really?"  
"‘Course. So next time ya get lost, wait for us. But _hide_ , for fuck’s sake, don’t stay out in the open like that. Didn’t I teach ya nothing at all? Bad fuckers who’d whoop yer ass come from outta nowhere, even out the sewers".  
"Like cockroaches?"  
"Yeah, like cockroaches." He had no clue on what cockroaches could be, but with a name like that they probably were an apt example anyway. "Now shut up and go to sleep, I’ve got a ship to run in the morning".  
Quill obliged, closing his eyes and curling on himself, but right when Yondu was sure the conversation was done he spoke again, mumbling sleepily. "Thanks".  
That was _definitely_ new. He’d been right when he’d said that the kid would go around melting hearts, hadn’t he? "And for what?"  
"Getting me back".  
"Yeah, my pleasure, boy. Now, _sleep_ ".  
Peter’s lips curved into a small smile and nodded slowly, leaving Yondu convinced that he would drift off for real this time. The Ravager shifted around the boy, so that they would both be comfortable enough to sleep (for being so little, Quill occupied a LOT of space), but when said boy got closer to him, nesting against his chest, he just rolled his eyes and let him be. Nobody could see them, and that was a sure way of feeling, even in his sleep, that Peter was there, and that Yondu had not lost or forgotten him somewhere.  
But first thing in the morning, he’d put a fucking tracker on the kid.

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when you put together a Tumblr headcanon, a girl obsessed with Peter and Yondu and her headcanon-genius best friend, so shout out to samanthacblack18 for forcing me to finish this after she had given me the idea (by sending me headcanons that made me giggle like a schoolgirl. AT MIDNIGHT).  
> It's nothing serious,guys, just a small thing that I wanted to get out of my head, but comments and kudos are appreciated (also if you notice some mistakes, please tell me! English is definitely not my mother tongue).  
> Cheers <3


End file.
